


Rebuild Yourself (The Way You Wish You Had Been All Along)

by TheTimeTraveler24



Series: Rebuilding Audrey [2]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Audrey & Ben Friendship (Disney: Descendants), Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21688873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTimeTraveler24/pseuds/TheTimeTraveler24
Summary: After making a wish upon a star, Audrey woke up to a surreal sight. Back in time a few years to the day Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos arrived in Auradon. One thing's for sure, she isn't going to waste this second chance. Audrey quickly befriends the VKs, and with a little princess flare, she's ready to shake up the timeline.
Relationships: Audrey & Evie (Disney: Descendants), Audrey & Mal (Disney: Descendants), Audrey/Harry Hook, Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Doug/Evie (Disney: Descendants), Gil/Jay (Disney: Descendants), Jane/Carlos de Vil
Series: Rebuilding Audrey [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563481
Comments: 24
Kudos: 146





	1. Now Nothing's Impossible

The downside to this whole time travel or waking from this super realistic dream thing was that everything that happens, Audrey already knew it. The only thing she didn’t know was where she was supposed to sit. It was a bit awkward for her when she walked into her Magical History class almost as the bell was ringing. Figuring she could just sit in an empty seat because no one probably dared to sit in her seat at this point, Audrey waited until class almost started before walking in.

A rare silence greeted her, she scanned the room for the open seat. None. Huh. It was only when she saw the purple hair that she realized what had happened. Her teacher hadn’t accounted for Mal last time. Since Audrey hadn’t arrived and that was the last seat left, Mal took it assuming no one sat there. Or knowing someone sat there and just didn’t care.

“Audrey!” Fairy Godmother greeted cheerfully. She frowned. “Oh bibbity bobbity! I must have forgotten to add a chair.”

Audrey started to say it was fine, but said nothing as a tingle ran through her fingers.  _ Magic _ , she thought. The scepted was miles away on the Isle separated by a magic stopping barrier, so she had yet to feel the full force of it’s pull, but the lingering feeling of magic still resided in her. No one had noticed anything, so Audrey quickly pulled her lips into a smile.

“It’s alright, Fairy Godmother,” she said quickly. “I can just…” she looked around the room. “I can just sit here,” she said, gesturing to the windowsill.

Most of her classmates looked shocked that she wasn’t demanding that Mal stand for the class so she could have her seat back.

“Excellent,” Fairy Godmother said, sounding happy. “Now, we’re starting our big project for the year. You’ll be preparing a presentation on your parent’s stories. As this is a history class, you’ll do well to leave out the present details. We’re here to learn about what happened during the actual story, not their happily ever after.”

For the life of her, Audrey could not remember what Mal ended up doing for her project. Perhaps Fairy Godmother had excused her? Was this after she left for her spa trip?

“Um, Fairy Godmother?”

Everyone looked at Audrey in surprise. She looked surprised herself.

“Yes, dear?” Fairy Godmother asked pleasantly.

“Well, it’s just that, um, well, we all know our parents stories by heart practically, so wouldn’t it be more of a challenge if you grouped us together, for example Lonnie, Chad, and I researching, uh, Ariel,” Audrey stuttered. “You know, a story that isn’t our parents.”

“That would be so cool!” Lonnie exclaimed. She grinned at Audrey. “She’s right. I mean, I know my mom’s story like the back of my hand. I could make this presentation in ten minutes tops. Besides, who doesn’t like group projects?”

Fairy Godmother looked thoughtful. “Well, I’d have to pick your groups, you know, but I don’t see why we couldn’t do this. It’s a wonderful idea, Audrey.” She looked at the class. “I’ll start arranging these groups while you read the first two sections in your textbooks about Atlantica. Quietly, please.”

Audrey pulled out her book, but happened to look over to see that Mal didn’t have her book. Either the school hadn’t gotten it to her yet, or she left it on purpose. Judging by the awkward way she shifted in her seat, she hadn’t received her book. Audrey vaguely remembered that the VKs had mostly tried to lay low while they attempted to steal the wand. Blatant rule breaking was not laying low.

“You can share with me,” Audrey whispered when she came over and knelt on the floor next to Mal.

Mal eyed her suspiciously, but turned her attention to the book in front of her. They read in silence for ten minutes.

“I’ve finished the groups, if you’ll all please check on your way out and start planning with your group,” Fairy Godmother announced at the end of class.

Audrey quickly scanned the list and almost groaned. Almost. Fairy Godmother had clearly seen the help she was giving Mal because right under Cinderella’s Story was Audrey, Lonnie, and Mal.

“Glad to be paired with you,” Lonnie said, giving Audrey a thumbs up. “Cinderella’s story. Oh, Mal? Who’s-”

“Me,” Mal said from behind Lonnie. She smiled sarcastically and checked the list. “At least it’s not my mom’s story,” she shrugged and walked off.

“Okay,” Lonnie said, seeming a bit put off. “Audrey, that’s Maleficent’s daughter, right?”

Audrey could only nod.

.

Lunch was an odd affair. Usually, she and Ben would sit with Lonnie, Chad, Jane, Melody, Anxelin, and Neva. Audrey had no desire to be around the latter three and being around Ben would just be too awkward for him. Not so much her since for her, he’s a married man, but such were the difficulties of time travel.

She had decided that it must be time travel. No dream could be as vivid as the past few years had been. It had to be real.

So getting to the cafeteria was no problem, but upon entering, she saw Melody, Anxelin, and Neva at the usual table. Jane was still in line waiting for food and Lonnie was making her way towards the table. Ben was nowhere to be found, and neither was Chad. The boys might have been sitting with the tourney team today though.

Audrey grabbed a few things from the lunch bar and quickly paid for them just as Jane finished up.

“Jane!” she called.

Jane looked over and gave her a small smile. “Hey, Audrey. What’s up?”

“Want to sit elsewhere today?” Audrey asked, scanning the room for an empty table. Of course the only empty table happened to be the one Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos sat at.

Jane apparently noticed this as well. “No. Not really.”

“Please,” Audrey begged. “I really don’t want to sit with Melody, Anxelin, or Neva. I’m beginning to see that they aren’t true friends, unlike you, Jane. You know, you’ve always been there for me, and I never really appreciated you. But I want to fix that, and I want to sit anywhere they aren’t.”

Jane looked surprised and maybe that was because Audrey was mixing up events, but nonetheless, she agreed to sit at the one empty (almost empty) table.

“Mind if we join you?” Audrey asked Mal brightly.

The purple haired teen looked up in barely concealed shock. Her eyes swept toward Jane who was shaking like a leaf. She raised her eyebrows. “Huh. Okay.”

Carlos looked the most surprised. He opened his mouth to say something, but Jay clamped his hand over the younger boy’s mouth.

Suddenly Audrey felt like she might have gotten in a little too deep. Mal clearly never did anything like this before if Carlos was anything to go by. He looked utterly confused as to why Mal agreed to let the two Auradon girls sit with them. Not to mention, this was no doubt a time they used to plot how to steal the wand.

“You’re Fairy Godmother’s daughter, right?” Mal asked Jane.

Jane squeaked and nodded.

Mal smiled warmly, and Audrey recognized that smile because she wore that smile when she was the self declared Queen of Mean. That was a very fake smile. A very manipulative smile. The next words out of Mal’s mouth proved it.

“So she’s the one who wanted to stop using magic?” Mal asked innocently. “I mean, she just, what, gave up her wand? Doesn’t she ever want to use a spell here and there?”

Jane swallowed. “Um, no. She’s very, um, insistent on no magic.”

“That’s not fair,” Mal continued. “I mean, she used magic on Cinderella. Nice dress, glass shoes, new hairdo. Couldn’t give Cindy to one o’clock, but whatever.”

Evie snickered under her breath. Either she had caught on to what Mal was trying to do, none too subtle (although Audrey  _ knew _ they were trying to steal the wand, so that might be why), or the one o’clock thing was an inside joke.

Jane sighed. “Ugh, I wish mom would do that for me. I  _ hate _ my hair. You have great hair,” she added.

Mal smiled again. “You know, my mom gave me her spell book and I remember a spell to change your hair. I could give it a try if you want?”

Jane’s eyes lit up. “Really?” Then her face fell. “But won’t you get in trouble? We aren’t supposed to do magic.”

“Like I would care about getting in trouble,” Mal snorted. “We’ve gotten in trouble on the Isle really often.”

“What was it like?” Audrey suddenly interrupted, not liking where the conversation was headed.

Jay scoffed. “Not like here.”

“There’s no wi-fi,” Carlos mumbled, holding up a brand new phone he had received upon arrival. “I like these games. I mean, we have television and stuff but the day we got here was the first time Jay and I got to play video games.”

Audrey almost winced at the thought of no wi-fi. “Wow. I didn’t know that. I guess we kinda take for granted our phones and games.”

“And we have to arrive on time if we don’t want detention now,” Evie added with a frown. “On the Isle we had to arrive late if we didn’t want detention.”

“Speaking of arriving on time,” Jay muttered. He stood up and pulled Carlos up. “We have to go. This tourney or whatever is in ten minutes.”

“You’re trying out for tourney?” Audrey yelped. She checked the time and her eyes went wide. “No, no, no. I forgot about cheerleading! I have to be at the tourney field for practice. Same time.” She started eating her sandwich rather quickly and jumped up with an apple in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other. “Sorry, Jane! I gotta go!”

Leaving Mal, Evie, and Jane together was probably not the best idea in hindsight, but Audrey couldn’t let her image fall to pieces suddenly. The whole school was still under the impression she and Ben were together (need to address that somehow), she was mixing up her memories (a timeline might be helpful if she wrote everything down), she was supposed to still be a snooty princess (that would have to change), and she had taken on all these responsibilities to prove that she would be a good queen (when she was still under the impression that she and Ben were forever).

“Oh, hey, Audrey,” Ben said awkwardly when she finally reached the tourney field. Her cheer skirt was twisted, but she was on time.

“Ben. Hi,” she gasped, breathing heavily. She cleared her throat. “Uh, I wanted to ask you if you’ve told anyone about us… not… being together?”

Ben shuffled awkwardly. “Uh, my parents. So they can, you know, work on the coronation arrangements. Placements and all that.” He looked down. “Uh, that’s it.”

“Oh, right,” Audrey nodded. She smiled as she said, “You should ask Mal out.” It was kind of invigorating to play cupid.

Ben blinked. “Wait. My ex-girlfriend who is the daughter of Aurora wants me to ask Mal, the daughter of Maleficent, out? Audrey, are you feeling okay?”

“Yes,” Audrey rolled her eyes. “Come on, Ben. I was there when you met her.”

“Huh?” Ben asked in confusion.

Audrey smirked. “You couldn’t keep your eyes off her.” And now she had to figure out how to make sure Mal gives Ben a love potion because gods that stupid song he sang after the game made a great proposal down the line.


	2. My Chin's on the Ground

Needless to say, Jay was as amazing at tourney as Audrey remembered, and Carlos was terrible. Although she had changed her mind about bringing the VKs over, not all her friends we like that.

“Those kids are trouble,” Chad muttered to her and Ben when they gathered after tourney at their lockers.

Ben sighed. “Come on, Chad. Give them a chance.”

“I am,” Audrey said with a pointed look at Chad. “I’m trying for Ben, Chad. And Mal is the daughter of my parents’ villain. Like, the worst villain ever.”

Chad rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Just because you two can’t see around their act.” He stalked off.

“He’s wrong about them,” Audrey promised Ben. “I’ll see you later?”

Ben was distracted by Mal who was a few lockers down. He glanced at Audrey. “Yeah, sure. Hey!” he said, walking up to Mal.

“Hey,” Audrey heard her say in response.

“How was your first day?”

Audrey shook her head because Ben still didn’t understand he was completely in love with Mal.

.

“Jane!” Audrey gasped in surprise. Did Mal do Jane’s hair this time last time? Okay, that was confusing. “I love your hair!”

“Mal did it earlier!” Jane said happily. “She told me to come find her later, and I found her at the lockers. It was so amazing, Audrey!” She ran her finger through the brown curls. “You should ask Mal to do your hair.”

Audrey was tempted to. However, she wasn’t going to be tricked into becoming that shallow girl she once was. Maybe still was, but that’s a different story. “No, it’s fine. I like my hair like this. Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

Jane’s face fell. “Oh, I’m on my way to see Mal and Evie.”

“I’ll go with you,” Audrey said quickly.

When they got to the girls’ dorm, Mal opened the door and let them in.

“What a surprise,” she muttered. Louder, she said, “What are you doing here?”

“My mom won’t do it!” Jane grumbled. “Mom said, ‘If a boy can’t see the beauty within, then he’s not worth it.’ Can you believe it? What world does she live in?”

“Auradon,” Mal said absently.

Audrey wandered over to where Evie was working on her sewing machine. “That’s cute, Evie. Brings out your eyes.”

Evie sighed happily. “I know right? I love making clothes.”

“I’ll never get a boyfriend,” Jane said in frustration.

Audrey almost smiled.  _ Yes you will _ , she thought silently.  _ And his name is Carlos and you two are going to be so sickeningly cute together _ .

“Boyfriends are overrated,” Mal dismissed.

Evie raised her eyebrows. “And how would you know, Mal? You've never had one.”

Mal rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s because I don’t need one, E. They’re a waste of time.”

“Oh no!” Evie shrieked. “I forgot to do Chad’s homework! Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no.”

“That’s what I mean,” Mal muttered.

Audrey frowned. “Evie. You shouldn’t do Chad’s homework. How’s he going to learn how to do things if others do all the work for him?”

Evie paused. “Oh, well, I never promised to do it all correctly, but Audrey, you must know how busy Chad is. He told me that if I could get it done, then we would be able to spend some time together.”

“He’s lying,” Audrey scoffed and she took Chad’s bag from Evie. “Don’t do it for him. I’ll take care of this.” She went to leave to talk with Chad, but the door opened and Lonnie walked in.

“Oh! Sorry, Audrey,” Lonnie said quickly. She smiled at Mal, Evie, and Jane. “Hey, guys. I’m Lonnie.”

Mal and Evie looked at her blankly.

“My mom’s Mulan?” Lonnie tried. Then she shrugged. “No? Anyways, I love what you’ve done with Jane’s hair. And I know you hate us, and, well, you’re evil. But-”

“They aren’t evil,” Audrey interrupted. “Just…”

“Rotten,” Mal supplied.

“To the core,” Evie added with a small smile.

Lonnie blinked. “Oh, okay. But I was wondering if you think you could do mine?”

“Why would I do that for you?” Mal asked bluntly.

“I’ll pay you 50 dollars,” Lonnie offered.

Evie took the offered money. “Good answer. I need to buy more material. Let's see, I'm thinking, we lose the bangs, maybe some layers and some highlights.” She lead Lonnie over to the full length mirror.

Lonnie nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I want it cool. Like Mal's.”

“Really?” Mal asked doubtfully.

“The split ends too?” Audrey and Evie asked together.

Mal glared at them, and Audrey mouthed a sorry. She huffed. “Fine. Okay. Beware, forswear, replace the old with… cool hair.”

Audrey watched in awe as Lonnie’s hair lengthened and turned a light brown. The awe quickly turned to a grimace as she felt a familiar tug.

“Stop,” she whispered almost inaudibly. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. As she exhaled, the tug went away.

“What did I just do?” Jane wailed. “Mom’s gonna kill me!” There was a very intentional rip in her and Lonnie’s skirts.

Audrey snickered. “It looks great, Jane. Nice new hairdo, Lonnie.”

Mal held up a hand. “Don’t tell me. You want your hair done now?”

“No,” Audrey admitted. “Well, yes, but not… not now.” That was enough of magic for one day, and Audrey had no idea how she would react to magic being performed on her. “Anyways, I wanted to ask Evie something. Did Ben or Doug show you around town?”

“No, not yet,” Evie shrugged. “Why?”

Audrey smiled. “Well, there’s some good fabric stores around here and you said you love making clothes so I thought you might be making you own dress for the coronation. You four are invited, you know.” She sighed. “It’s going to be so beautiful. Fancy dresses and decorations. Oh! It’s like the only time Fairy Godmother ever uses magic. Like ever.”

Mal’s eyes lit up. Seriously, how obvious were they going to be about this? She glanced at Evie before looking at Audrey. “She uses her wand?”

“Yeah,” Audrey nodded. “I’m excited. My family gets to stand up front. The ruling families all do. Well, and their special guests. Like I could invite, I dunno, Doug or someone and he’d get to stand with me. You’ll probably be standing in the sides on the second floor.” She winced. “It’s nothing against you, of course, but the coronation’s been done planning for weeks now.”

“Aren’t you up front with Ben?” Lonnie asked in confusion. “Ben’s girlfriend stands up front.”

Audrey was silent. “I… I broke up with him. I mean, be real. He would have broken up with me eventually. I… I don’t think it was ever real love between us. So we’re not together anymore.”

“Wow,” Lonnie said in shock. “I guess I thought Ben would be the one to… not you.”

Audrey shrugged. “Yeah, well. Anyway, I have to go give Chad grief about making Evie do his homework.”

“He what?” Lonnie gasped. She looked furious. “You know, Audrey, I think you’ll find that you’re going to get sidetracked until  _ after _ that assignment is due.”

Audrey snorted. “I’m not that cruel. I’ll give him ten minutes before class.”

.

Hopefully she had been subtle enough to drop the hint that Ben’s girlfriend would be the one who could be the closest to the ceremony.

“Did you know how bad it was on the Isle for them?” Lonnie asked Audrey quietly.

They were with Ben at the lockers. Jay and Mal were a few lockers down and chatting quietly. They watched Mal snap her fingers in Jay’s face. He shook his head, said something, and walked away.

“What do you mean?” Audrey asked.

Lonnie looked sad. “I ran into them last night. They were making cookies and they hadn’t put any chocolate chips in, so I asked them about it. Their moms never made chocolate chip cookies for them.”

“Well, Lonnie, they kind of get our leftovers,” Audrey said matter-of-factly. “None of us are going to throw away a bag of chocolate. Which is why Ben’s proclamation is good. We’re learning about them, and they’re getting things they never had before.”

Ben beamed. “Thanks, Audrey. I know you were against it at first, so that means a lot.”

“Of course,” she said graciously. “Bye, Ben. Good luck today.” She and Lonnie left, turning around the corner.

“I’ll see you at the game,” Lonnie told her. “You should get your uniform on.”

“Yeah,” Audrey nodded. “See you later.”

When Lonnie had gone, Audrey listened to Ben and Mal’s conversation.

“I just made a batch of cookies,” Mal was saying. “Double chocolate chip, do you want one?”

“Oh, I, uh, I've got a big game,” Ben said sounding regretful. “I don't eat before a big game. But thank you so, so much. Thank you. Next time. Next time.”

Audrey rolled her eyes. Come on, Ben.

Mal hummed in response. “No, yeah. I completely understand. ‘Be careful of treats offered by kids of villains’.”

“No, no, no,” Ben said quickly.

“No, I'm sure every kid in Auradon knows that,” Mal waved off.

Audrey shook her head. Mal was totally manipulating him, and Ben was completely oblivious.

“No, that's not it,” Ben protested. “No, no, no, I... I really do…”

Mal laughed. “No, I get it. You're cautious. That's smart. Oh, well, more for me, I guess.”

“No, no. Hey... see that?” Ben’s voice was a little muffled now. He must have eaten the cookie. “Totally trust you. Totally.”

“How are they?”

“They're good. They're great! They're amazing! They're, uh... I mean, they're chewy and, and you know, they... is that walnuts? I love walnuts. I mean, uh, you know, the... The chocolate... The... the chocolate... The chocolate chips are... I'm sorry. Um... Uh, they're... They're warm and soft. And they're sweet... Mal, have you always had those little golden flecks in your eyes?”

Audrey grinned. She had a strong feeling the love potion only made Ben say what he always wanted to say,

“Mal, Mal,” Ben said loudly.

Audrey giggled. Then winced. “I should probably let people know we broke up a while ago,” she muttered to herself.

.

“Give me an M!” Ben shouted.

Audrey shook her head and grinned as she shouted with the rest of the crowd. “M!”

“Give me an A!”

“A!”

“Give me an L!”

“L!”

“What does that spell?”

“MAL!”

Ben looked in Mal’s direction. “I love you, Mal. Did I mention that?”

Instead of running off, Audrey found herself actually enjoying the theatrics of it. Ben and the rest of the tourney team danced around while Audrey and her cheer team launched their fliers high into the air.

“Mal, will you go to the coronation with me?” Ben asked hopefully.

The purple haired girl looked slightly overwhelmed, but she smiled and nodded. “Yes!”

“She said yes!” Ben shouted.


End file.
